Life Capsule for Today 11 September, 2023
Theme: The Prayer Life of Elijah (2)
Memory Verse: 1 Thess 5:17
17 pray without ceasing, NKJV
Topic: Elijah bore the burden of his prayers
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 17:2-9
2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. KJV
Words of the Ministry:
Yesterday we considered the payer life of Elijah, we said Elijah was a man like us, he wasn’t a Spirit, he was a man with basic needs like food, shelter and clothing, Elijah also had the urge to sleep, socialize and live a free and comfortable life. But we saw something with Elijah yesterday, that was his ability to pick the mind of God. Elijah was not just mighty in prayer but he was a prayer warrior who knew the mind of God in prayers. We learnt that for him to have prayed for drought it must have been the will of God and for that will to come to pass, Elijah still needed to pray fervently. Elijah was a man who understood how to cooperate with God in payer for his will to be done on Earth. We can say Elijah was a watchman on the earth, a type of what believers ought to be today. So as we approach God, we should be bold to say prayers for God’s will to be done on earth as It is in heaven. To such payers, God would not say no, because we pray his will.
The matter I like to consider today is Elijah’s attitude to his prayer of drought. Elijah prayed there should be no rain for years, Elijah didn’t intensify on the prayers because he had a storehouse house filled with food stuff or so much wealth that he could buy food regardless of its price, as a matter of fact, Elijah wasn’t even in the good book of the king so connections couldn’t have helped. Elijah prayed a prayer that would cause him a lot of discomfort not just for a day, a month or even a year. We immediately see the selfless nature of Elijah as he wasn’t praying a prayer driven by self to meet his need, boost his ego or have a business advantage, rather he was bothered about extending the will of God and redirecting the people to the only true God. What is your motive for praying, why did you decide to embark on the 3, 7 or 21 days fast? Is it for the will of God or for your selfish interest to prove a point?
One could only imagine Elijah at the brook waiting patiently for a bird to feed him, should someone ask Elijah what he was doing there, we can imagine how absurd his answer would have sounded that he was waiting for a raven to feed him. That did not discourage Elijah, he was willing to bear shame for the kingdom of God, we see a man that understands that prayer is for transformation, so Eijah was further humbled through his prayer request as he was a laughingstock in those days for his prayer to manifest and have the necessary impact. As though that wasn’t bad enough Elijah didn’t only wait on a raven but at a certain time the book died up and he had to approach a widow for food. Eljah’s obedience was born out of pure reference for God and humanity. Naturally, we would have thought Elijah should have prayed that God provides through any other means instead of the shameful means of going to a poor widow for food, but Elijah was willing to bear shame because he understood the primary purpose of prayer being to fulfil God’s will and to transform our being. Fulfilling God’s will at times comes with some level of shame and discomfort, we may have to live with some situations we may not really want. We can therefore see that as powerful as Elijah was in Prayer, he knew he couldn’t change God but himself as God is God above all.
Bible in one year: Ezekiel 37-39
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